ABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: Background: very little is known about musculoskeletal features of multiple myeloma (MM) in Africa. OBJECTIVES: To describe the musculoskeletal features of multiple myeloma at presentation in a tertiary health care centre in sub-Saharan Africa. DESIGN: A Cross sectional observational study. SETTING: The Douala General Hospital, Cameroon from 2007 to 2013. SUBJECTS: A patient was said to have MM according the current international consensus criteria for diagnosis and staging of MM. Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, solitary plamocytoma and other haematologic malignancies were excluded. RESULTS: A total of 62 patients were diagnosed with multiple myeloma, 63% were female. Mean age was 57 ± 12,1 (19-81) years. Musculoskeletal presentation included spine bone pains (75.6%); vertebral fracture with spinal cord compression in 46.8 %. Other clinical features at presentation included anaemia (70.93%), and nephropathy (17.74%). The average percentage of bone marrow plasmacytosis at diagnosis was 33% and Immunoglobulin G was found in 86% of patients. Sixty three per cent of patients were diagnosed at stage III of the disease. CONCLUSION: Presence of bone pain and anaemia should alert the clinician to investigate along the lines of multiple myeloma. Majority of the patients have osteolytic lesions and pathologic fractures at the time of diagnosis.
